Magical Damage
Magical Damage is a name used on this wiki and elsewhere to refer collectively to all types of Physical Damage that will trigger a target's Magic Immunity. This includes damage from many harmful spells, all , and even Special Attacks. As with all other types of Physical Damage, Magical Damage attempts to inflict actual on its target, and requires the attacker and target to perform multiple and rolls, respectively, in order to determine the final amount. Magical Damage is only a collective name that's used for simplicity's sake. The only common property of all Damage Types grouped under this name is that they will all trigger a target's Magic Immunity, if present. This can have various effects, depending on the Magical Damage's method of delivery. Furthermore, two "sub-types" of Magical Damage exist, called Fire Damage and Cold Damage. These are identical to Magical Damage, except they will also trigger additional immunities the target might possess (Fire Immunity and Cold Immunity, respectively). They are otherwise functionally similar to Magical Damage, and will trigger Magic Immunity if present as well. Effect Magical Damage is essentially a type of Physical Damage, whose only distinction is that it will always trigger a target's Magic Immunity in one way or another. Therefore, the basic effect of Magical Damage is the same as any other kind of Physical Damage: it is meant to cause actual to the target, and involves both rolls and rolls to determine how much is actually inflicted. The maximum amount of caused to the target is equal to the strength of the attack itself. Since there are many (very different) sources of Magical Damage, this calculation may vary wildly, and is explained in its own section below. Rolling To Hit With all types of Physical Damage, the attacker is required to make rolls, which determine how many hits are registered against the target. The number of rolls is equal to the strength of the attack itself (see below). Each roll results in a value between 1 and 100, which is then compared to the attacker's score (usually , before modifiers are taken into account). Each successful roll registers one hit against the target. Note that whenever Magical Damage is inflicted by a spell, the To Hit value is always assumed to be exactly . There is no known modifier that will apply to spells. Rolling To Block The target of Physical Damage is then allowed to make rolls, which will help it block or dodge some of these registered hits. The number of rolls is equal to the target's score, and again each roll results in a number between 1 and 100, which is compared with the defender's score (usually , for nearly all units). Each successful roll blocks one of those registered hits. Applying Damage Finally, any registered hits that were not blocked are immediately translated into actual which is applied to the target's current . During this process, the target unit may lose one or more of its , and may end up being completely destroyed as a result. Since Physical Damage requires both and rolls, the actual amount of delivered to the target is almost always lower than the calculated maximum. It is even possible that no actual will result, whether the attacker failed all his/her rolls or the defender managed to succeed in a sufficient number of rolls. There are also complex rules regarding making or suffering Physical Damage. The attack is stronger the more there are in the attacking unit, and the defender unit has more chance to survive if it contains more as well. For a complete explanation of how Physical Damage works, including all the rolls it is required to make, see the article on Physical Damage. Attack Strength The total amount of Magical Damage delivered by any attack strength of that attack. Magical Damage can result from extremely different sources - essentially both units and spells - and therefore can be calculated from very different factors. In either case, the calculated Attack Strength indicates the absolute maximum amount of that can be caused to the target. Again, due to the and rolls made in the process of calculating inflicted damage (see above), the actual results are usually lower than this maximum. Ranged Magical Attacks :When a unit makes a , it delivers Magical Damage. The strength of the attack is based on the unit's Ranged Attack score, which is denoted by a row of in the unit's details panel. For each , the unit delivers 1 point of Magical Damage. Thus, a unit with deliver 3 points of Magical Damage each time it makes a Ranged Attack. :This becomes somewhat more complex with , since each makes a separate Ranged Attack upon the target. For example, a unit with and makes 4 separate Ranged Attacks, each delivering 3 points of Ranged Damage. This is not the same as a single attack delivering 12 points of Ranged Damage (see Physical Damage for a thorough explanation of why this is so). Special Attacks :Some Special Attacks, including Breath Attacks, Gaze Attacks and Touch Attacks, deliver Magical Damage as well. The strength of the attack is then determined by the unit's respective ability score, as shown in the unit's ability panel. :Note that as with above, perform one Breath Attack per . This means that the more figures are present, the more Magical Damage is inflicted on the whole. Again, see Physical Damage for a more thorough explanation of this effect. Spells :For spells and spell effects that deliver Magical Damage, there is no simple indicator like that. To determine the amount of Magical Damage a spell delivers, it is often necessary to read the spell's description - whether in-game or on this wiki. Unfortunately, the in-game information is sometimes lacking; on the other hand this wiki usually (if not always) has definitively-accurate information. :On the Master of Magic Wiki, for simplicity and style, the strength of a spell will often be marked in the same way as a Ranged Magical Attack, using a followed by a number. That number is the amount of Magical Damage delivered by the spell. This is convenient because there are very few differences in how Ranged Attacks and direct-damage spells are handled by the game, at least in terms of how they hurt their targets. :Note also that some spells may deliver variable amounts of Magical Damage, depending on how much extra is invested into the spell at casting time. Again, this is usually explained in the documentation for that spell, whether in-game or on this wiki. Immunities Regardless of the source of Magical Damage, all Magical Damage has one thing in common: it will trigger a target's Magic Immunity, if present. When the source of Magical Damage is a , triggering a target's Magic Immunity means that the target's Defense score is temporarily increased to for the duration of the damage-dealing process (see above). It will make 50 rolls, and can thus potentially block up to from the attack - quite a massive amount. Only the strongest have any chance of getting through this much armor. With spells and spell-effects inflicting Magical Damage, the triggering of the target's Magic Immunity causes the damage to be completely blocked, regardless of anything! The spell causes no damage and has no harmful effect on the immune unit, even if the spell is extremely powerful. It is currently unknown whether Breath Attacks trigger the effect or are completely blocked, but current testing indicates that it is the latter; a Breath Attack will cause no damage or harm to a Magic-Immune unit. Magical Damage Sub-Types There are two Damage Types in the game which this wiki refers to as sub-types of Magical Damage. They are called Fire Damage and Cold Damage. These two Damage Types are functionally identical to Magical Damage, in that they will trigger a target's Magic Immunity as per the rules dictated above. However, each of these damage types will also trigger an additional immunity if the target possesses it, making them essentially less useful than "plain" Magical Damage, at least in some circumstances. Fire Damage, the more common of the two, will trigger a target's Magic Immunity or its Fire Immunity, if either is present. If only Fire Immunity is present, the target's Defense score is raised to temporarily for purposes of blocking this damage. Similarly, Cold Damage, a rare damage type known to be delivered by only two specific spells, will trigger a target's Magic Immunity or its Cold Immunity, if either is present. If only Cold Immunity is present, the target's Defense score is raised to temporarily for purposes of blocking this damage. In both cases, Cold Damage and Fire Damage will trigger a target's Magic Immunity in the same way as all Magical Damage types do, as explained in the previous chapter. If Magic Immunity is present it will override any Fire Immunity or Cold Immunity, so refer to the previous chapter to see what happens based on the method of delivery. Magical Weapons Due to the classification of Damage Types on the Master of Magic Wiki, some confusion may arise when talking about "Magical Weapons": despite their name, they do not deliver Magical Damage. Magical Weapons are Melee weapons that have been "upgraded", in one of the following ways: * For Normal Units, this is done through either the Alchemists' Guild or Alchemy Retort, and causes the unit's Melee Attack strength to be marked with . * For Heroes, Magical Weapons can be created or acquired, and then equipped in special slots (though they do not cause the Hero's indicator to change). * Finally, several spells (like Eldritch Weapon) are said to bestow a similar effect on their target: making the target's weapons "Upgraded". In all three cases the weapon upgrade may have various benefits, but one important effect is that the unit's Melee Attack will no longer trigger a target's Weapon Immunity. Coupled with glowing icons and the use of the term "Magical Attack" in the source material, it is easy to assume that these weapons cease to deliver Melee Damage, and instead now deliver Magical Damage. However, on the Master of Magic Wiki a clear distinction is drawn between Magical Damage and Melee Damage. As established above, Magical Damage is defined by the fact that it will always trigger a target's Magic Immunity. "Magical Weapons" simply do not do this. Therefore, those weapons described above are still said to deliver Melee Damage - just with slightly different behavior and/or extra bonuses. Note of course that any unit with a will always deliver Magical Damage with this attack - regardless of whether it has been upgraded in any way. All deliver Magical Damage, always. Category:Damage Types Category:Physical Damage Types